Bizarre Cooling...

[Anomaly1964]

I had a tv tuner card in my current build which I NEVER use, for some reason I got a notion to pull it out...

It was in the slot right next to my video card...

I take it out and my Idle CPU and GPU temps dropped about 4C...???

Maybe it was preventing some air flow...?

 

[thescreensavers]

Well yea it was blocking some airflow lol

 

[aigomorla]

grimillians..

You had grimilians living in your video card, and by removing them, it magically cooled your computer.

<sarcasm>

The card was probably blocking air flow, or your sink was probably pulling warm air though the sound card.

 

[somethingsketchy]

Radiant heat could also be the culprit. Since the GPU might not be exhausting all of the heat produced, some of the heat builds up, and unfortunately the TV tuner card didn't help with heat dissipation. Not sure what kind of TV tuner card you had, but I know some don't have any form of cooling, which doesn't help at all.

By you removing the tuner card, you probably saved a bit on excess heat inside the case.

 

[Bryf50]

I have an older Theater 550 pro in my HTPC. That thing is a furnace. The main chip has no heat-sink on it and it will easily burn your finger if you touch it.

 

[Anomaly1964]

I have an older Theater 550 pro in my HTPC. That thing is a furnace. The main chip has no heat-sink on it and it will easily burn your finger if you touch it.

Yeah, this one had no heat sink and was RIGHT next to the video card....

 

[CurseTheSky]

Most video cards either draw air in through the "top" (facing down when mounted in a normal case configuration) of the card and exhaust it out the back, or draw air in from the sides and exhaust it out the top. If you put something hot next to its air intake, it will naturally draw in warm air and the cooling properties will be worse. If you block some of it's exhaust space, it won't be able to exhaust the hot air its trying to expel as easily.